In the mid-1980s the Vietnamese
government issued a series of stamps showing historic aircraft--a German
Fokker Triplane from 1917, a Soviet
Yakolev II from 1946. Cynics wondered if these planes weren't part of
Vietnam's newest fleet. Indeed, in the embargo days, Vietnam's fleet
was composed mostly of aging Russian Tupolev-134 jets and Ilyushin-18
turboprops that groaned and creaked when aloft. For hair-raising flights,
nothing beat the Yakolev-40 light aircraft. In Vietnamese, Vietnam Airlines
is rendered Hang Khong Vietnam, which foreigners quickly dubbed "Hang
On Vietnam." Former fighter pilots specialized in vertical takeoffs
and landings, learned from wartime days. Exit doors--if you could find
them--were marked in Russian.

Vietnam Airlines was forced to use Russian aircraft because the embargo
prevented leasing planes with American technology or parts. In 1992 Vietnam
Airlines found a way around the restrictions by chartering instead of
leasing planes, and by agreeing not to fly under its own name. This resulted
in the acquisition of two Boeing 767s and a Boeing 737 painted completely
white--somewhat disconcerting to passengers like myself boarding in Bangkok.
After our flying ghost took off, we were relieved to hear a French accent
emanating from the cockpit--hopefully the pilot. The in-flight service
was uniquely Vietnamese: a hostess dressed in a dreamy ao dai trundled
down the aisle to deliver a single fruit to each passenger. I gazed at
the fruit in wonder: I'd never seen this species before. Here I was on
an unmarked plane with an unknown fruit. A new species at 7,000 meters!
Puzzled, I turned to my neighbor, a Vietnamese woman, and she instructed
me in sign language how to dissect the fruit and which parts to eat.
It was delicious.

In mid-1992, Vietnam Airlines purchased two 80-seat ATR-72s from France.
The ATR-72 is a turboprop made by Avions de Transport (ATR), a joint
venture between France's Aerospatiale and Italy's Alenia Spa. With the
lifting of the embargo, Vietnam Airlines is retiring its old Russian
crates--the Tupolev jets--to boost the airline's safety reputation. There
are maintenance concerns with the Tupolevs, which have to be flown to
Moscow for checks. The airline's fleet now includes Airbus A-320s leased
from Air France, an assortment of leased Boeings, and a handful of ATR-72s.

After getting the cold shoulder
from the US for so long, Vietnamese airline officials are suddenly
being treated like royalty. Delta was
the first airline to host a visit to the US by Vietnamese executives.
Nguyen Hong Nhi of Vietnam Airlines was wined and dined, given a tour
of Disney World, and photographed next to a Wookie, the furry copilot
in Star Wars. It was a bizarre experience for Nhi, a former air force
general who shot down eight American aircraft in his MiG-21, but he said
he had "a lovely time" in the States.